On Nov. 20, 2011, a Pulaski County deputy sheriff was standing in the dispatch area of the sheriff’s office near the security camera monitors when he noticed that a female inmate in the recreation room of the Pulaski County Jail was standing on top of a vending machine and appeared to be trying to crawl into an A/C & heating vent. A second female inmate appeared to be assisting by watching for the jail staff, spraying a liquid onto the security camera lens to obscure vision, and later by also standing on top of the vending machine to assist in the removal of the vent cover. The deputy watched this action for several minutes.

The observant deputy had recently transferred from the jail staff to the road division and he immediately identified both females. The on duty jail staff was notified and the females were returned to their cells. Photographs of the damaged vent cover were taken and a statement of probable cause was sent to the Pulaski County Prosecutor for possible charges.

On Nov. 29, 2011, the Prosecutor filed one count of attempted escape from custody while under arrest for a felony, a class D felony, on Star Lynn Gann, age 23, of 40964 Maries County 630, Dixon, Missouri and Ashley N. Gilbert, age 20, of 205 West 5th Street, Dixon, Missouri. The bond on both inmates was set at $25,000 for this charge and they remain in the Pulaski County Jail